Twinkle
by Rosekeet
Summary: While trying to string up Muggle Christmas lights Ron and Hermione find themselve tangled. Unable to move with no help available they are forced to spend the night together. Will a dying fire and the magic of Christmas Eve work their magic on Ron and He


_Twinkle_

By: Rosekeet

Rated PG: Sensuality, mild language

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters and titles belong to J.K. Rowling. The idea for this fic was my good friend Marie's.

A/N: In the spirit of the holidays I decided to write a Christmas fic. Sorry if you're Jewish, but I'm not Jewish, and I don't think they celebrate Chanukah at Hogwarts. Let's just stick with: Generic Seasons Greetings!

A/N2: This is written after I finished the fic. Good Lord, I didn't think it would be so long. I should cut some stuff out really. Oh, by the way, as a warning, this is pure sappy, gooey, cheesy, Romance Novel (without the sex), fluffy, Daniel Steel, mushy crap. Well, maybe not crap, no wait, it is. I'm just giving you fair warning. It's supposed to be cheesy. Cheesy one shots are my specialty.

Ron Weasley was very annoyed. He scowled at the massive knot in front of him. _Damned Muggles…_ He thought as he grabbed a string that was hanging over his shoulder. He stared with loathing at the green plastic thread that was covered in small colored lights. Christmas Lights, the little first year girl had called them. _Lights from hell…_ Ron thought, as he struggled. The first year had come down in the morning with a package from her Muggle parents. It was Christmas Eve and the common room had been decorated for over a week. Figures a first year would ask to have damned Muggle decorations hung up. Hermione, however, had insisted.

"'_She's lonely, Ron.' 'She misses her family, Ron' 'It'll make her feel more at home, Ron' 'They'll look nice, Ron.'_ " Ron muttered to himself as he struggled with the strands. It was about 9:30 and the first year who wanted the lights, Sally or Susie or Mindy or something, had fallen asleep on a couch. Hermione had gone to the library to look up a spell to make the lights work with out a plug. Ron had thought he was home free when he learned that the damned things were Muggle made. Of course Hermione had to go and do something thoughtful. He muttered curses under his breath as he threw a strand over his shoulder. One had gotten wrapped around his ankle and several were on his head.

"Problems?" Said the amused voice of Hermione from behind him.

"No, I'm fine." He said sarcastically, "You've really missed out on a lot of fun."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I found a spell."

"Well that makes everything perfect!" Ron said clapping his hands. "Thank Merlin!"

"You don't have to be so sarcastic." She said with a sigh. "You want some help?"

"If you want these bloody lights up." He muttered. Hermione sighed again. Ron looked over his shoulder and saw her put a large book and her wand down on an ottoman near where the first year girl slept.

"When did Tracie fall asleep?" Hermione asked.

"Right after you left."

"I thought she was helping you." She said. Ron snorted.

"If creating the biggest knot in the history of wizard-kind counts as helping, then she did a brilliant job. I told her she could sit down for a while and next thing I knew she was out."

"I hope you weren't mean to her." Hermione said sternly.

"I'm only mean when obnoxious first years ask me to hang inane Muggle decorations up on Christmas Eve."

"Tracie, Tracie," Hermione said, ignoring Ron. "Tracie!" She slept on. "TRACIE!" Hermione said loudly shaking the sleeping girls shoulder.

"Wh-uh, where am I?" She said opening her eyes at last.

"You're in the common room. You fell asleep."

"Oh! I'm sorry, Ron!" Tracie said in her tiny voice. Ron grunted in response. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you go to bed? Ron and I will have the lights up by tomorrow."

"Really? Thank you so much!" Tracie said getting up off the couch. "It's lonely, being all by yourself for Christmas, especially since I don't even know that much about being a witch yet."

"We're happy to do it. Aren't we Ron?" Hermione said smiling down at him. He scowled back. "Aren't we?" She said threateningly as she kicked him.

"OW! Yeah, delighted," He muttered. Little Tracie beamed at them, then went up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

"Thanks for being so sincere." Hermione said sarcastically as she sat down next to him. "Where's your Christmas spirit anyway?"

"Tangled up in these damned lights,"

"If you didn't get frustrated so fast." She scolded.

"You sound like my mum," Ron muttered.

"Good. She can keep you in line." Hermione said taking a strand of lights. "Now, where's the problem?"

"There." Ron said pointing at the large ball of lights before him. Hermione's expression faltered for a split second before she crawled over to it.

"Well, this will be a, uh, challenge." She said sitting cross-legged in front of the mass.

"Try, impossible."

"You should add 'have a positive attitude' to your list of New Years resolutions." Hermione said pulling at a strand and then putting the resulting loop over one arm. Ron sighed deciding it was probably better not to respond. Hermione looked at him as if waiting to defend herself against a snide remark. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when he said nothing. They worked in silence for over half an hour. The only noise being the crackling fire and the occasional curse word that escaped from Ron. At quarter after 10 Hermione sighed in obvious frustration.

"How's it coming?" Ron said, smirking.

"Not well, thank you." She said with a scowl. Loops of lights were on booth arms and on one leg. She now sat with her legs spread open, ball of lights in front of her and loops of light over both feet. "What about you?"

"I thought I found the end a while ago but I lost it."

"Great." Hermione muttered, brow furrowed. "Whoever put these lights away had no idea what they were doing! My family never had this problem."

"Damn things are more trouble than their worth I'd imagine." Ron said tugging at a strand.

"They're quite lovely once they're up but it seems like you'd have to TRY to get a knot this big!"

"What ever happened to 'if you didn't get frustrated so fast'?" Ron said grinning at her. Hermione scowled and stuck out her tongue. Ron sniggered.

"I'm going to go get my wand. Maybe if I levitated this bunch we'd be able to untangle it better. Or maybe there's a spell…" Hermione said rising. She started towards the ottoman where she'd left her wand and the book, trying to shake of Christmas tree lights as she went along.

"Ouch!" Ron said as Hermione tugged at one strand. "That's in my hair!"

"Sorry, but I can't get loo-AH!" She cried tripping, wobbling, and tumbling down.

"ACK!" Ron choked as the strands around him tightened. "Hermione!" He gasped pulling at the strings.

"Sorry!" She said trying to get up. "AH!" the strings pulled her down again, this time on top of Ron. Ron gasped as all the air in his lungs left him.

"Ow…" Hermione mumbled as she lay in a gangly heap across Ron.

"Hermione!" He choked out. "Geroof!"

"What?"

"Gerrof!" He gasped.

"OH!" Hermione said seeing his almost purple face. She carefully picked herself off Ron.

"Thanks," He said gasping in air.

"Sorry about that. Let me try one more--"

"NO!" Ron said grabbing the back of her sweater before she could completely rise. "Don't! We're so tangled there's no way you're going to make it over there."

"I suppose you're right."

"Thank you!" said Ron leaning against a couch to catch his breath. Hermione started to crawl back to her original position but found she could get no further than a foot from him.

"I'm stuck!" She said. "We must have made things worse when I tried to get up!"

"We? What do you mean we? You're the one who tried to get over there!"

"Don't you dare try to pin this all on me Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said angrily.

"Oh, so it's my fault is it?" Ron spat

"More so than mine!"

"It's always my fault! Do I have 'scapegoat' written on my forehead or something?"

"Don't try and pull the martyr act on me, Ron! It won't work!" She said shaking her finger at him.

"Well don't pull the high and mighty Miss Perfect one on me!" He shot back.

"I am not perfect!" Hermione said hotly. "Or high and mighty!" Ron rolled his eyes.

"Please! You have the highest scores in our year. You're always in class on time. You help anyone who asks. You're practically the surrogate mother of the first year girls. Everyone knows you're going to be head girl next year and nothing is ever your fault!"

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not always throwing pity parties for myself!"

"I do not!"

"Come on! 'Poor me, I got a bad grade on my test,' 'poor me, all I'm not fabulously wealthy,' 'poor me, I have five older brothers to live up to,' 'poor me!'" Hermione said imitating Ron's voice.

"Better to be sorry for yourself than a goody-two shoes!" Ron snapped back.

"Well at least I accomplish things!"

"At least I'm not as annoying!" Ron said and they both scowled at each other. Thanks to the Christmas lights they were very close together. Hermione could see every freckle on Ron's red face. They stared at each other, neither blinking, still scowling. Ron noticed that Hermione's eyes which had always appeared a nondescript brown actually had flecks of green in them and, if there wasn't obvious anger behind them, would have been quite pretty. Hermione, in turn, forced her eyes to stay open and not leave Ron's. His eyes weren't a true color. They were a mix of blue, green, and grey and spewed anger in her direction. At last Ron blinked.

"HA!" Hermione said triumphantly and with a scowl Ron turned away. Hermione snorted at his back and also turned, scooting as far away from him as the lights would allow. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and settled down into a sulk. What a horrible way to spend Christmas Eve! Tangled in Christmas lights and fighting with Ron. Hermione sighed.

She, Harry and Ron were supposed to be having a good time. Roasting sausages, marshmallows, toast and things over the fire; telling funny stories; playing cards; imagining what they would be getting for Christmas; talking about things they wanted but would never get; maybe even talking to Tracie, trying to make her feel better. It had definitely not turned out that way. Harry had been in the hospital wing with the stomach flu since the day before, and she and Ron were busy snapping at each other over a string of bloody Christmas lights.

Hermione wished that she could learn to just shut up. She knew she was guilty of what Ron accused her of, and knew she was particularly bad about those things around Ron.She nagged him more than anybody. It was a combination of the fact that Ron knew just the right button to push to irk her and the fact that she genuinely just wanted him to do his best.

Hermione was a very practical person so she knew it was best to understand her feelings. Over two years ago she had sorted out her feelings where Ron and Harry were concerned. She had decided that she loved them both, but in different ways. With Harry it was friendly, almost maternal. He was like her brother. With Ron, well… that took a while. She knew it was different than the way she loved Harry but couldn't decide if it was love like in the 'Witch-weekly for teens' romance novels she saw other girls read. She had come to the conclusion that she and Ron could be a happy couple and they could fall in love that way if they would only allow themselves. Hermione would bet the six "O's" she'd earned on her O.W.L.'s that Ron felt the attraction between them. Hermione sighed sadly. It was occurrences like these that made her worry she was driving him away. Less than a foot away from Hermione Ron too, was sulking.

_Damned lights. Damned Christmas. Damned Hermione. _He thought angrily to himself. He tried to draw his hand through his hair but his fingers got stuck in lights. He yanked his hand out of his hair, grateful it didn't get stuck. He rested his chin on his hand, feeling vaguely depressed. He had meant what he said about Hermione, but he didn't mean it in the vicious way it came out. He liked annoying her, and admitted that some of their fights he started on purpose. For some reason he just enjoyed bantering with her. It was when he lost control of his temper and said mean things that he didn't like it.

He admitted that he, in Hermione's words, did throw pity parties for himself. It was around Harry more than Hermione. Harry simply listened sympathetically. When Hermione over heard she scolded him and contradicted what he was saying. Hermione generally made him feel good about himself. She treated him like an equal rival and didn't care about his brothers or the state of his robes.

He sighed quietly to himself, wishing he could just for once say something nice to Hermione. Something like, "you look nice today," or "thank you for helping me" or "I admire your dedication to your classes" or something. Instead he said things like "you look different today" or "Merlin, you're picky" or "you're such a teachers pet". He meant the nice things, he really did, but the mean things always came out. Like at the Yule Ball fourth year. He said all those things about "fraternizing with the enemy" when he meant, "I wish you had gone with me." She had looked beautiful too but he didn't say anything. He scowled, angry with himself. He knew he liked Hermione as more than a friend, he reached that conclusion long ago, and he knew there was an attractive force between them. _If only I'd stop doing things to push her away_. He thought. _I should apologize. Be the first one too, be the bigger person! No, wait! It's not a contest or argument! I just need to tell her that I'm sorry about all the mean things I said. I could tell her how I feel, but… no. One step at a time._ He took a deep breath and put his arm down, tugging the lights, which pulled at Hermione. She tugged back harder. Ron yanked at them even harder. With in a matter of seconds they were in a tugging war. _This is exactly what I didn't want to happen!_ Ron thought as he continued to tug.

_What am I doing?_ Hermione thought. _This is so juvenile and not what I wanted!_ However, neither one stopped pulling.

"We're going to break the lights!" Hermione said at last. Ron dropped the lights, cursing himself.

"Hermione," He said turning. She didn't turn to face him so he spoke to her back. "What are we doing? This is stupid!"

"You started it." She muttered turning around to face him. She was scowling but after a few seconds she smiled, then started giggling. By the time Ron asked, "What's so funny?" she was practically rolling on the floor.

"I-I-I'm sorry." She gasped out. "But, no offense, you just look so funny!"

"Funny?"

"The lights are all tangled up in your hair, and wrapped all around, and you just had this expression on your face." She said grinning.

"Well, look at you! Lights looped up around your arms and legs and tangled in your hair too! You could be a Christmas tree!" He said pointing at her, unable to suppress his smile. They both started laughing.

"Merlin, we must look a sight…" Hermione said when the laughter had died down. "Stuck together with Muggle Christmas lights."

"Imagine if someone walked in." Ron said and Hermione shook her head.

"Well, if we don't get unstuck… There was a brief moment of silence and Hermione leaned against the couch.

"Hermione," Ron said seriously.

"What?" she asked, looking curiously at him.

"I'm sorry. You know about what I said earlier. I, uh, didn't mean it that way." He said genuinely.

"Thank you." Hermione said quietly after a moment. "I'm sorry about what I said too."

"Thanks." Ron said smiling. He leaned against the couch next to her. There was silence again as they both pondered this new development.

"You know, maybe if we both got up together, we'd be able to get my wand. Unless you have yours on you," Hermione said.

"It's in my trunk."

"Well, if I got mine I could make these things vanish."

"Tracie would be disappointed." Ron said with a smile.

"At this point I don't really care." She replied, "Plus, we could always transfigure string or something."

"It's worth a shot." Ron said and they both slowly stood up.

"Okay, slowly…" Hermione told him as they started inching towards the ottoman. Behind her Ron stumbled and they both tumbled to the ground in a heap.

"Ow…" Hermione moaned. "Ron, you're making lights dig into my spine!" Ron started to roll off Hermione. "Not that—AHH!" Hermione said as they both rolled backwards.

"Sorry," Ron said trying to sit up, dragging Hermione downward. After several minutes of struggling both found themselves upright, though farther away from their goal than they started.

"I think its gotten worse…" Hermione said trying to move sideways.

"Yeah," Ron agreed as Hermione's tugging had pulled him closer to her. Startled by the contact she stopped. "I, uh, don't think it's going to help if we try to get to your wand."

"Yeah," Hermione said wishing her cheeks would go back to their normal shade.

"Maybe if we yelled Tracie would hear us. She could come down and hand you your wand." Ron suggested.

"That's the best idea I've heard all night." Hermione said.

"Better mark it in your calendar. It's not too often brilliant ideas come from me." Ron said. Hermione laughed then said, "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"**_TRACIE_**!" They both yelled as loud as they could. "**_WAKE UP! TRACIE!_**"

"**_WE'RE STUCK IN _YOUR_ DAMN LIGHTS!_**"

"**_TRACIE! WE NEED A LITTLE HELP!"_**

Ron and Hermione continued to yell, but to no avail.

"Good grief, she must be dead or deaf!" Ron grumbled. "We practically woke the dead."

"There isn't anyone in the boy's dorms, is there?" Hermione asked. Ron shook his head.

"Harry's the only one who stayed and he's in the hospital wing."

"Tracie's the only girl. Ginny went to her boyfriend's house and everyone else went home." Hermione said with a sigh.

"Guess we're stuck this way until morning then." Ron said, turning to look at Hermione.

"Guess so."

"…So, Mum caught Fred and George right before they put it in my parents' bed. You should have heard Mum scream. Fred and George didn't come out of their room for a month they were so scared." Ron said laughing. After some careful maneuvering the pair had managed to get to where they could lean against the couch. They had taken their shoes off and their feet were stretched towards the dying fire. The clock above the mantel read a quarter past eleven.

"You're joking!" Hermione said laughing. Ron shook his head.

"I laughed so hard I practically cried."

"I wish I had brothers and sisters." Hermione said with a sigh as she leaned her head back on the couch.

"I guess it is kind of nice." Ron agreed with a shrug restricted by Christmas lights. "I mean, at least I have amusing anecdotes to share." Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Yeah,"

"Anyway, I get to ask you something now." Ron said.

"Alright, shoot."

"I have to think for a minute."

"Okay." Hermione replied, wondering what else Ron wanted to know. He'd already heard about getting her Hogwarts letter, Muggle school, Davie Jones (her first crush), and other bits of Hermione trivia that she'd never released. A part of her wanted him to ask her about how she felt about him, but most of her wanted to throw up at that thought.

"I can't think of anything." Ron said after a minute.

"I told you I wasn't that interesting."

"You're plenty interesting, I just can't think of a good question."

"If you think of one, tell me."

"Will do," Ron said. He was lying to her. He could think of plenty of questions he wanted to ask Hermione. _What would you say if I said I loved you? How do you feel about me? Do you think we could be a couple? Do you feel the same sparks between us that I do? _He just couldn't find the guts to ask them. It was a perfect moment. Honestly, he couldn't have planned it better. It was weirdly romantic, being tangled in Christmas twinkle lights in front of a fire on Christmas Eve. They had been talking for over an hour, laughing, sharing. Next to him Hermione said,

"This really isn't so bad you know."

"Well, it beats barfing with Harry in the hospital wing." He replied with a smile.

"A lot of stuff beats that." Hermione said, "But I mean, I thought this would suck, but it doesn't. It's kind of nice in a weird way."

"I know what you mean."

"It's fun talking to you. I mean, I talk to you all the time and all, but not like this really."

"Yeah, too bad it took us getting stuck in crummy Muggle Christmas lights." Hermione giggled.

"Very true. The whole situation is pretty funny. It's like a Muggle romantic-comedy movie."

"Movie?"

"The Muggle version of wizard photographs, sort of."

"Ah. It does seem like the books my sister reads sometimes." Hermione didn't say anything else. Out of the corner of his eye Ron saw that she was smiling a little bit.

_God, Hermione,_ Hermione thought to herself, _just say something! It's the most perfect moment you'll ever find if you're going to spill! _She shivered, partially from her thoughts and partially from cold.

"Cold?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, a little."

"Well the fire is dying down… If I could move I'd give you my sweater." Ron said.

"It's the thought that counts." Hermione said with a faint smile. "I should've worn pants." She said gesturing to her grey skirt and white tights.

"Maybe if you, ah, move closer to me, maybe I would warm you up a little." Ron said, not believe the words coming out of his mouth. Color rushed to his cheeks and ears as he waited for the funny look and 'no'.

"Sure." Hermione said, wondering if Ron had really just asked her that. She scooted closer to him, which wasn't really all that far. Ron put his arm around Hermione's shoulders and she blinked in surprise, but settled her head down on his shoulder anyway. Ron rubbed her arm, as if trying to warm her, and gave her a small smile. Hermione smiled back and snuggled closer, deciding she might as well enjoy things while they lasted. They sat that way in silence for several minutes. Hermione looked at the glowing embers and at her and Ron's legs. They were touching, her left leg almost over his right. If they had been dating she would have put her hand on his leg, right about his knee. She had imagined almost this exact same scene in her head many, many times when she dreamed about love. It was identical, the dying fire with crackling embers, the snow flurries out the window. This was her fantasy, except for the Christmas tree lights which were digging rather painfully into her leg. She shifted a little and glanced quickly up at Ron. When she was younger the man who she was sitting with was faceless, but recently her fantasy man's hair and turned red and his face had become Ron's. _I wish… I wish…_ She thought to herself and then realized she had no idea what she wanted. A love confession? A kiss? For this to just continue? She sighed quietly as she pushed these thoughts to the back of her head.

Ron could not believe he was sitting with his arm around Hermione. It was obviously a more than friendly pose, but it wasn't that lovey-dovey. He'd expected it to be awkward and had expected Hermione to move away but she had moved right next to him, head on his shoulder, legs touching. She seemed to fit right there, like a puzzle piece he hadn't known was gone. He glanced down at her. Her eyes were partially closed. She wasn't asleep but he could tell she was getting tired. He was too, actually. He imagined what they'd do if they woke up this way. It seemed perfect right now with the fire light, and the Christmas tree and decorations. The twinkle lights didn't really add to the mood, but you couldn't have everything. In the morning, when sunlight flooded the room it would just be awkward. _Unless you say something. _A voice said in Ron's head. He groaned internally. He desperately wanted this to happen again. He wanted to sit in front of the fire like this every night. _Do it! Take the plunge!_ Ron took a deep breath, preparing for the splash at the bottom.

"I thought of a question." He said. His voice came out thick and sounded far away.

"Hm?" Hermione murmured, glancing up but not moving.

"A question."

"Oh, okay, what is it?"

"I uh," Suddenly Ron's mind went blank. He couldn't do it. If she told him otherwise their friendship would be ruined. He'd be heartbroken. She'd be embarrassed. "If you could have one thing for Christmas, anything at all, what would it be?" He said, chickening out. "Make it good too, not something stupid like world peace." He added, for comic relief.

"World peace isn't stupid." Hermione said. Her voice was stern but he could hear the good natured tone behind it.

"You know what I mean. Something really selfish. Something just for you."

"You." Hermione said without thinking. The word echoed around the room. _What did I do?_ She thought, horrified, clamping a hand over her mouth. For a split second that felt like eternity there was silence.

"Wh-what did you say?" Ron said, not believe his ears. His heart was pounding. Hermione sat up looking horrified and terrified at the same time. Lights dug into Ron but he didn't notice.

"I can't believe I said that!" She said through her fingers.

"Hermione, what did you say?" Ron asked, almost desperately. She moved as far away from his as the lights allowed.

"Oh my god…" She mumbled drawing her knees to her chest and hiding her face in her hands.

"Hermione," Ron said again ignoring the pull of the lights.

"Don't Ron!" She said. "Just…don't!" He inched over to her.

"Please tell me." She shook her head. Ron carefully grabbed her hands and ignoring her protests, pried them away from her face. Her face was bright red and she was practically crying.

"Hermione, tell me. Please." He said looking into her eyes.

"You!" She chocked out. "I said 'you.'"

"As in me?" He asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"Yes!" She sobbed, tears at last escaping her eyes. She jerked her hands away and started crying into them. Ron felt a bubble of happiness welling at his center. A smile spread across his face as the realization hit him. Him! Hermione wanted him for Christmas! She loved him!

"I am so sorry, Ron!" She was saying as Ron came back to earth. "I just came out, I shouldn't have said it, but you caught me off guard, and…"

"Hermione!" He said taking her hands again and pulling them away from her face.

"Please, just forget it happened, I'm such an idiot." She blubbered. She was so mortified that she wasn't sure what to do. She would have sold her soul to the devil to erase that single word.

"It's okay." Ron told her.

"Wh-what?" She said risking a look at him.

"It's okay." He said again, putting a hand on her face and wiping the tears away. "It's okay." Hermione took a shaky breath in, not sure what to expect. "I'm glad you said that."

"What? Why?" She asked, confused.

"Because I love you, stupid." He said with a small laugh and a smile, "I was going to ask you how you felt about me or what you would do if I said I loved you…but I chickened out. Thankfully you said something," Ron trailed off. In response Hermione burst into fresh tears.

"It's okay!" He wondered if he'd misinterpreted her words, or done something wrong. "What's the matter?" He asked worriedly, not knowing what to do. Hermione wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and looked up smiling. She saw the Ron's furrowed brow and worried expression and started laughing. "Wh-what's funny?" He asked, more confused that ever.

"Oh Ron!" She said, laughing harder. "You!"

"Me?" He said pointing at himself.

"It's happy crying!"

"Happy?"

"Yes! Because you said that you loved me." She said laughter subsiding.

"Oh." Ron said and then he smiled at her.

"I've loved you for a long time."

"Me too," He said taking her hand and smiling a smile that melted Hermione's heart.

"Though I'd hex you right now if I had my wand!" She said scowling and grabbing her hand back.

"What did I do?" Ron asked, confused again.

"How dare you put me through all that Ron Weasley! Dumping that on me! What ever happened to guys making the first move and chivalry?" She said scowling heavily at him and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What?!" Ron said desperately.

"You heard me!" Hermione said angrily.

"B-b-but Hermione!" Ron stuttered trying to grab her hand. Hermione turned sharply away from him. "ARGH!" he said as the Christmas lights dragged him down. Hermione let out a squeal as Ron's motion dragged her down on top of him.

"OUCH!" Ron yelped as the lights dug into his back.

"Sorry!" Hermione said trying to get off him. "Oph!" She mumbled as the lights pulled her down the other way and Ron back up. Ron pulled back the other way and Hermione rolled sideways. After several minutes of struggling Hermione ended up in Ron's lap and Ron was leaning up against the couch. When she looked up at Ron's startled face and the lights in his hair and tangled around them both she started laughing. Ron's expression turned puzzled for a minute then he started laughing too. Hermione leaned her head against Ron's chest as she caught her breath. Ron put his hand under her chin and gently lifted her face. He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. Hermione's brain was thinking a hundred different things and nothing at all at the same time. When Ron kissed her she wasn't surprised but her breath caught in her throat all the same. She raised a hand to his face and ran her hand through his hair, fingers getting caught in twinkle lights. Hermione had never been kissed though the opportunity had come up. She would have thought it was one of the nicest feelings she'd ever felt if most of her cognitive ability hadn't left her.

Ron felt himself go hot and cold at the same time. His fingers had moved from her face to her hair and neck. His mind was flitting between how Hermione's lips tasted and how her hair felt on his fingers and how he felt simply happy. Mostly he was thinking about nothing.

After a time period neither was sure of the kiss broke. Hermione smiled up at Ron and Ron smiled back. Hermione tried to take her hand out of his hair but her fingers were stuck in Christmas lights.

"Ouch!" Ron said cringing.

"Sorry," Hermione said then they both started laughing again. Ron reached his arms around and hugged her tightly to him. Hermione moved a strand of lights, leaned her head against his chest and yawned. She felt warm, sleepy and content. Ron rested his chin on her head and leaned back against the couch. He looked at the glowing embers in the fire place and then at the clock. It was five minutes past twelve.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione." He murmured but she had fallen asleep.

They woke the next morning to the worried face of Tracie.

"Wh-what happened?" Tracie asked, perplexed. Hermione sat up slightly and found that she was still on Ron's lap.

"Oh!" She said surprised, the events of the past evening coming back to her. A flush crept up to her cheeks as she realized how she and Ron must look. "We uh, got a little tangled." She told Tracie. "Will you hand me my wand?" Tracie nodded and got up.

"Where, what?" Ron said groggily opening his eyes. He became aware of Hermione on his lap and blinked several times.

"Good morning." She said, but it came out as more of a question. What would Ron's reaction be? Things seemed a lot different in the morning light. He must have seen the worried expression on her face because he leaned forward and kissed her.

"Um…" said Tracie. Hermione looked up, face flushed. "Your wand."

"Thank you," Hermione said taking it. Tracie looked between Ron and Hermione several times. She looked like she wanted to ask a question but didn't say anything. A quick spell made the lights vanish. Ron and Hermione both got up quickly, glad to be free.

"Merlin, my legs are both asleep." Ron said collapsing on the couch.

"Sorry about that," Said Hermione apologetically.

"How much do you weigh anyway?" He asked, rubbing his thighs.

"Look just because we're an item now doesn't give you rights to that kind of information." Hermione told him sternly. Ron grinned at her.

"I'm awful sorry about the lights." Tracie said sounding quite remorse. "My dad never was good at packing them."

"It's alright." Ron said.

"If you get me some string I can transfigure some more for you." Hermione said.

"Really?"

"Yes." Tracie beamed and hurried up the stairs. Hermione sat down next to Ron and rubbed her eyes. "God, I must look a fright."

"Pretty much," Ron said happily, putting his arm around her. "But spending an entire night tangled in Muggle Christmas lights will do that to you." Hermione smiled as she leaned against him. She put her hand on his leg and said,

"It is alright though."

"Yeah,"

"I can think of worse ways to spend Christmas Eve." Hermione said.

"I agree. As far as Christmas goes things are going really well." Ron said and Hermione nodded. "I mean, you are the best Christmas gift I've gotten in years." Hermione laughed and Ron gave her a squeeze.

"Happy Christmas," She said with a smile.

"Happy Christmas," Ron replied.

THE END


End file.
